UNIT-I

BJT and Applications

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 BJT
• Beside diodes, the most popular semiconductor devices is
transistors.
• The name bipolar is used because both types of carriers namely
hole and electron are used in the transistor
• Transistor was invented by J. Bardeen (1908 - 1987), W.
Shockley (1910- 1989), and W. Brattain (1902 - 1987) in 1948. In
1950 the junction transistor was made using molten
germanium.
• Most important applications of BJT are – as an amplifier,
oscillator and as a switch.

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 Construction

Structure

npn and pnp transistors

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 Construction
• Emitter region: This is usually a n type heavily doped
region. The emitter `emits' the carriers into the base.
• Base region: This is a lightly doped p region. The base
region is also physically thin so that carriers can pass
through with minimal recombination.
• Collector region: This is a n type region. The collector
region has a larger width than the other two regions
since charge is accumulated here from the base.

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 Symbol

• The notation of transistor (npn or pnp) comes from the

type and sequence of the semiconductor layers.
• Direction of the “arrow” in the symbol specifies the type
of BJT and current direction in circuit diagrams.
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BJT voltages and currents

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• For npn transistor, base is biased positive with respect to
emitter as shown in figure.
• Collector is biased higher positive voltage than base
• Voltage sources are usually connected to the transistor
through resistors.
• Base resistor, RB and collector resistor, Rc are current limiting
resistors, VCC is collector supply, VBB is base voltage.
• VCC > VBB ensures collector base junction is reverse biased
• Negative terminals of the supply are connected to emitter
• Typical transistor base emitter VBE voltages are similar to
diode forward voltages 0.7 V for Si transistor and 0.3 V for
germanium transistor
• Collector voltage varies from 3V to 20 V
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Transistor Currents

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• For npn transistor, base is biased positive with respect to
emitter.
• Collector is biased higher positive voltage than base.
• Voltage sources are usually connected to the transistor
through resistors.
• RB, base resistor and Rc, collector resistor are current
limiting resistors, VCC collector supply, VBB base voltage
• VCC > VBB ensures collector base junction is reverse biased
• Negative terminals of the supply are connected to emitter
• Typical transistor base emitter voltage, VBE is similar to
diode forward voltage 0.7 V for Si transistor and 0.3 V for
germanium transistor
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The currents in the transistor are related as
IE = IB + IC
Where Collector current, IC = IC(maj) + ICBO

The ratio of collector current to emitter current is called α. This parameter is

commonly known as common base gain.
output current
DC current gain α =
input current

𝐈𝐂
𝛂= (2)
𝐈𝐄

The typical value of 𝛼𝑑𝑐 ranges from 0.95 to 0.99. For a good transistor, its
value is closed to one.
The ratio of collector current to base current is β, which also denoted as h
parameter, hFE. This parameter is commonly known as common emitter gain.
output current
DC current gain β =
input current
𝐈𝐂
𝛃 = 10
𝐈𝐁
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Example:
A transistor has IB = 0.08mA and IE = 9.60mA. Determine
its collector current IC, α, and β.

Solution
IC = IE – IB = 9.60 mA - 0.08 mA = 9.52 mA
α = 9.52 mA/9.60 mA= 0.9917
β = 9.52 mA/0.08 mA = 119 or
β = α/(1-α) = 0.9917/0.0083 = 119

Note:
For the transistor if β=100 then corresponding α = 0.99
and 𝑰𝑪 ≅ 𝑰𝑬 .
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 Transistor Configuration

• Common Base Configuration - has Voltage

Gain but no Current Gain.
• Common Emitter Configuration - has both
Current and Voltage Gain.
• Common Collector Configuration - has Current
Gain but no Voltage Gain.

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Common Base Configuration

Common base configuration

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• Base is a common between input and output
terminals
• Input signal applied: between B and E terminals
• Output signal collected: between C and B terminals

• Input current IE must be greater that IB and IC to

operate the transistor
• Output current IC is less than IE in CB configuration

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 Input Characteristics

• In this configuration, input is applied between emitter and

base terminals of the transistor and output collected across
collector and base terminals. Base is common to input and
output.
• Input characteristics is the curve between IE and input voltage
VEB for a constant collector base voltage VCB

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• From the graph, it can be seen that
• After cut in voltage IE increases drastically with
small increase in VEB.
• Input resistance is very small,
∆𝑉𝐸𝐵
• 𝑟𝑖 =
∆𝐼𝐸 𝑉
𝐶𝐵 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

• As VCB increases, slight increase in IE is observed.

This is due to change in the width of the
depletion region.
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 Output Characteristics

• It is the curve between collector current IC and collector

base voltage VCB for a constant emitter base current IE
• The collector current is along y axis and collector to base
voltage is taken along x axis, with emitter current
constant.
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 State EB junction CB junction

Active Forward Biased Reverse Biased

Cut off Reverse Biased Reverse Biased

saturation Forward Biased Forward Biased

•Three basic regions of operations of transistor can be seen

in output characteristics
• For the transistor to be operated in the active region, the
emitter base junction to be forward biased while the
collector base junction to be reverse biased.

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• In this region 𝐼𝐶 ≅ 𝐼𝐸 . The transistor works as an
amplifier when it is operated in the active region.

• If emitter current is zero the collector current is just

the ICBO

• This current is very small and appears on the

horizontal line as IC = 0. The region below the IE=0 is
known as cut off region, where IC≅ 0 where CB and
EB junctions are reverse biased.

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• Saturation Region : region to the left of VCB = 0 V
• When VCB is between -1 to 0 volts there is an exponential
increase in the collector current. In this region both EB and CB
junctions are forward biased.
• In the active region the collector current is almost constant ≅
parallel to x axis. The collector current is independent of CB
voltage. The transistor is said to be a constant current source.
This provides a high dynamic output resistance.
∆𝑉𝐶𝐵
• 𝑟𝑜 =
∆𝐼𝐶 𝐼
𝐸 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡

• As emitter current increases the collector current also

increases. The output current IC depends on input
current IE, not on collector voltage. The input current
controls the output current transistor. Hence transistor is
a current operating device.

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 Common Emitter Configuration:

• Input is applied to Base Emitter terminal and output is

collected across collector emitter terminal and emitter is
common.
• Base voltage VBB forward biases the BE junction and VCC
reverse biases the CB junction.
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VBE is the input voltage, VCE is the output voltage, IB
is input current and IC is output current

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 Input Characteristics

• It is the curve between input current IB and input

voltage VBE at constant collector emitter voltage, VCE.
• The base current is taken along y axis and base emitter
voltage is plotted along x axis. Figure shows the input
characteristics for CE configuration.
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 Observations
• As the input characteristics is between the base to emitter
junction, the plot resembles the diode forward
characteristics.
• After the cut in voltage the IB increases rapidly with small
increase in BE voltage.
• The dynamic input resistance is small in CE configuration. It
is the ratio of change in base current at constant collector
∆𝑉
emitter voltage. i.e. 𝑟𝑖 = 𝐵𝐸
∆𝐼𝐵 𝑉
𝐶𝐸 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
• For a fixed value of VBE, base current IB decreases as VCE
increased. A larger value of VCE results in a large reverse bias
at collector base pn junction. This increases the depletion
region and reduces effective base width. Due to very few
recombinations in the base region base current IB reduces.

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 Output Characteristics

Output characteristics display the relation between

collector current IC and collector voltage VCE for different
values of IB as shown in figure .

This characteristic is also called as collector characteristics.

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 Observations
• The value of 𝛽𝑑𝑐 of the transistor can be found at any point on the
I
characteristics by taking the ratio IC to IB. βdc = C . This is known as
IB
dc beta of the transistor.
∆IC
• The Ac beta βac = .
∆IB ∆𝑉
𝐶𝐸 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

• The ac and dc beta values are almost same.

• Output dynamic resistance
∆𝑉𝐶𝐸
• 𝑟𝑜 =
∆𝐼𝐶 𝐼
𝐵 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡
• Change in VCE causes little change in IC for a constant IB, i.e. output
resistance is high.
• The output characteristics of common emitter configuration has
three basic regions of operations: Active, Cutoff, Saturation

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 DC Load line Analysis

A DC load line is a straight line drawn on the output CE characteristics

of a transistor circuit that describes all the DC conditions that exist in
the operation of a circuit.

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• The supply voltage Vcc forward biases the base-emitter junction.
Applying KVL to base-emitter junction, we get

and
• Applying KVL to collector-emitter loop, we get

When IC = 0, we get VCC =VCE.

• The transistor is said to be at cut-off region.
When VCE= 0, we get

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• Now the transistor is said to be in saturation. The
corresponding points are plotted on CE output
characteristics of the transistor.
• The straight line obtained by joining these two points is
called as DC load line.

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 Transistor as Switch

• When VBB is zero, corresponding IB is also zero. Since there is no base current
transistor will be OFF. The operating point of the transistor will be in the cutoff
region. When transistor is OFF , IC is also zero. This corresponds to the open switch
situation.
• When VBB is positive, IB flows through the base and transistor turns ON. The
operating point is shifted to saturation region as both junctions are forward
biased. When transistor ON, this corresponds to a closed switch condition.

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Operating point when transistor used as switch

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Transistor switch to ON/OFF LED

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• A transistor used to switch an LED ON and OFF.
• The transistor in Figure is used as a switch to turn the LED on
and off.
• A square wave input voltage with a period of 2 sec is applied
to the input as indicated.

• When the square wave is at 0 V, the transistor is in cutoff; and

since there is no collector current, the LED does not emit light.
• When the square wave goes to its high level, the transistor
saturates. This forward-bias the LED, and the resulting
collector current through the LED causes it to emit light.
• Thus, the LED is on for 1 second and off for 1 second.

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 Transistor as an amplifier

• A simple circuit diagram for transistor used as an

amplifier is as shown in figure.
• The operating point for the transistor to work as an
amplifier should be at the centre of the active region .
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• We know that IC = βIB and IC = αIE and also IC ≅ IE .

• Input voltage Vin is superimposed on the dc bias voltage VBB.

Without ac, when only DC voltages are applied,
VC = VCE = VCC − IC R C .

• When ac signal is applied, VC ± vc = VCE

= VCC − (IC ±ic )R C

• As input voltage Vin increases the collector current IC

increases and Vout decreases. On the other hand as Vin
decreases the collector current decreases and hence output
voltage increases. Therefore at the output of the amplifier
there will be a 1800 phase shift observed.

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Single stage RC coupled CE amplifier

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 Significance of each component
• Resistors R1, R2, RE form voltage divider biasing circuit for the
amplifier. This will set the operating point in the active region
for the CE amplifier.
• The input capacitor C1 is couples the signal to the base of the
transistor. This capacitor blocks any dc component present in
the signal and passes only the ac signal. Thereby C1 helps in
fixing the operating point in the active region.
• The capacitor CE is the emitter bypass capacitor connected in
parallel to the emitter resistance RE to provide a low
reactance path for the amplified signal.
• Without this resistor there will be voltage drop across the RE
which will reduce the output voltage, thereby changing the
gain of the amplifier.
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• The output capacitor C2 is used as coupling capacitor to
couple the output of the amplifier to the load or to the
next stage. C2 blocks dc and passes only ac signal.
• The source resistance RS is in parallel to the R2 will
reduce the bias voltage at the transistor base and intern
it reduces the collector current.
• Similarly when RL is connected directly the dc levels of VC
and VCE will change.
• To avoid this and to maintain stability of bias condition
the coupling capacitors are used.

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Phase reversal

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• During negative half cycle of input, ac and dc voltage
oppose each other reducing the forward bias on the
base emitter pn junction.
• This reduces the base current. Accordingly collector
current and inter drop across collector resistor reduce,
increasing the output voltage.
• Thus we get a positive half cycle at the output for the
negative half cycle of the input.
• Hence a 1800 phase shift is observed between the input
and output voltages for a CE amplifier.

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Feedback Amplifiers
• The purpose of an amplifier is to amplify the input signal without
changing any of the characteristics except for amplitude
• Feedback plays an important role in electronic circuits
• Improvement in the performance can be seen by using feedback
network

Block diagram of a simple feedback amplifier

There are two types of feedback
 Positive feedback
 Negative feedback

• If the feedback signal Vf is in phase with the input signal Vin,

it is called as positive feedback

• If the feedback signal Vf is out of phase with the input signal

Vin, it is called as negative feedback

• Negative feedback leads to amplification

• Positive feedback leads to oscillations
Concept of negative feedback:

Vo
Here, A  Vi is the gain of the basic amplifier (without feedback)
‘A’ is known as open loop gain
V
A f  o is the overall gain of the amplifier (with feedback)
V
in

A f is also known as closed loop gain

here, V f is the feedback signal and  is the feedback factor.
Vo
We have, A  …………(1)
Vi
Vo
Af 
Vin ………..(2)
therefore, Vo  AVi ………….(3)
Vi  Vin  V f  Vin  Vo ………….(4)
Substituting (3) in (4) we obtain,
Vo  AVin   Vo  or
Vo 1  A   AVin
Hence overall gain or gain with feedback is

Vo A
Af  
Vin 1  A ,
Thus the negative feedback reduces the gain by a factor of (1  A )
Advantages of negative feedback amplifier:

• Stabilized gain
• Higher input impedance
• Lower output impedance
• Increased bandwidth
• Reduction in noise
Voltage Series Negative Feedback:

Fig 3: Voltage Series Feedback Amplifier

• It is a voltage amplifier
• The output voltage Vo is sampled and fed back in series with
the input
• Let the amplifier be inverting type with a phase shift of 1800
and gain A
• Let  be the feedback factor.
Then V f  Vo or
Vf

Vo ,the value of  lies between 0 and 1.
• When feedback factor  is 0, it means that no feedback is
applied.
• When feedback factor  is 1, whole of Vo is applied as a
feedback voltage
• Vo and Vin are out of phase by 1800. Thus Vin and V f will be out of
phase as shown in the block diagram
Hence
Vi  Vin  V f or
Vin  Vi  V f
Vo
Af 
Vin
 Vo Vo Vo
Af   but, A simplifying, we have
Vi  V f Vi  Vo Vi

A
Af 
1  A
This is a general representation of gain.

• A f is called as closed loop gain, since the gain is measured with

negative feedback
• In a negative feedback system, the feedback sample V f is
subtracted from the input signal, Vin

 Af < A , also 1  A > 1

Hence gain with feedback, A f is small

Concept of positive feedback:

• When the input signal and part of the output signal fed back
are in phase, the feedback is called as positive feedback
• Positive feedback leads to oscillations

Amplifier with positive feedback

Expression for gain with positive feedback:
Vo
A is the open loop gain of the amplifier
Vi
Vo
Gain with feedback is A f and is given by A f 
Vin

Since the feedback is positive, voltage V f is added to Vin to

generate Vi
From the block diagram,
Vi  Vin  V f , V f depends on  of the feedback
network
V f  Vo
substituting for V f in Vi
Vi  Vin  Vo
Vin  Vi   Vo
Vo
Vo Vo Vi
Af   
Vin Vi   Vo V
1  o
Vi
A
 Af 
1  A

Variation of gain with feedback with varying  :

A  Af
20 0.005 22.22
20 0.04 100
20 0.045 200
20 0.05 
Barkhausen’s criterion for oscillations

• An oscillator is an amplifier that uses a positive feedback

• without any external input signal it generates an output waveform at
a desired frequency

Block diagram of an oscillator

Two conditions for the circuit to work as an oscillator are called as
Barkhausen’s criteria for sustained oscillations

Barkhausen’s criteria states that

1. Total phase shift around the loop as the signal proceeds from input
through the amplifier, feedback network back to input again
completing a loop is 00 or 3600

2. The magnitude of the product of open loop gain A and the feedback
factor  is unity ie,

A  1
Vin is a fictitious voltage applied as input to the amplifier
Vo  AVin
the feedback factor  decides the amount of feedback to be
given as input
V f  Vo
V f  AVin
For an oscillator, the feedback voltage V f should drive the
amplifier and must act as Vin
This can happen only when
A  1 ie V f  A Vin
or V f  Vin
Under this condition, V f drives the circuit without any external
input and hence it works as an oscillator
Case 1: A > 1, oscillations are of growing type

Case 2: A < 1, oscillations are of decaying type

Case 3: A  1 , oscillations with constant frequency and
amplitude called as sustained oscillations
RC phase shift oscillator
Single RC network:

• It is a low frequency oscillator that generates oscillations in

audio frequency range
• R & C are connected in series. Vc is the voltage across
capacitor
• Vo= VR is the voltage across R, Xc is the capacitive reactance
given by
1
Xc 
2fc
• Total impedance of the circuit Z is
Z  R  jX c where,
Z  R2  X c ,
2

X 
  tan 1  c 
 R 
• Values of R & C are adjusted such that one RC section
generates a phase shift   600

Three RC sections each with 600 phase shift

• The frequency of oscillations is given by
1
f 
2RC 6
Advantages:
• Simple to design
• Frequency generated are in audio frequency range
• Pure sinusoidal output signal is generated

Disadvantages:
• Difficulty in adjusting the values of R & C so as to satisfy 1800
phase shift
• It is hence considered as a fixed frequency oscillator
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LC oscillators:
• Oscillator circuits that use L & C components in their feedback
network to produce oscillations are called as LC oscillators
• High frequency oscillators

Operation of LC tank circuit:

• LC tank circuit produces electrical oscillations of desired frequency.
These elements are capable of storing energy

Fig.a: LC tank circuit

• Capacitor is initially charged with a DC source having polarities
as in the figure 9b.
• The charged capacitor is connected across an inductor
through a switch as in figure 9c.
• When the switch S is closed,

Fig 9b: Charging capacitor Fig 9c: L across a charged capacitor

• When the switch is closed, a current flow exists and hence
magnetic field gets set up around the inductor L.
• The capacitor gets fully discharged and maximum current
flows in the circuit when all electrostatic energy gets stored as
magnetic energy as in figure 9d.

Fig 9d: Magnetic energy in L Fig 9e: Electrostatic energy in C

• Magnetic field starts collapsing around L. This starts charging
C with opposite polarity making lower plate positive and
upper plate negative
• Capacitor gets fully charged. The entire magnetic energy gets
converted back to electrostatic energy in C as in figure 9e.

• Capacitor again starts discharging through L but in opposite

direction to that of previous case as in figure 9f. Electrostatic
energy gets converted to magnetic energy. This process
repeats

Fig 9f: C discharging in opposite direction

Hartley Oscillator:
• The frequency of oscillations is given by
1
f 
2 LeqC , where Leq  L1  L2
X L1 L1
Feedback factor  
X L2 L2

The condition for sustained oscillations is A >1

A >1  A > 1
 L1
L2 L2
Or A >
L1
If mutual inductance exists between L1 & L2, the with M as
mutual inductance we have
Leq  L1  L2  2 M
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Colpitt’s oscillator:
The frequency of oscillations is given by
1 , where CC
f  Ceq  1 2
2 LCeq C1  C2

X C1 C2
The feedback factor   
X C2 C1

The condition for sustained oscillations is A >1

or A > 1
C1 
Or A >
C2
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